Suites at Overton Park - Lubbock

[mrfootball]

McDougal's Suites project nearly mirrors The Centre

A Smaller Sibling

BY CHRIS VAN WAGENEN

AVALANCHE-JOURNAL

Eighteen months after opening The Centre at Overton Park, McDougal Cos. said it intends to duplicate that effort along Glenna Goodacre Boulevard as part of a project that could get under way as early as December.

The Suites at Overton Park is a $35 million luxury apartment complex that's expected to come online by late summer 2009.

Mike McDougal, president of McDougal Properties, said the massive 617,000-square-foot structure will nearly mirror The Centre.

Provided by McDougal Cos.

The Suites at Overton Park, as seen in this artist's rendering, will be a 290-unit luxury complex built along Glenna Goodacre Boulevard. The project is expected to be completed by Summer/Fall 2009.

"The difference is this one won't have a retail component, which will allow us to squeeze out a few more bedrooms," he said.

McDougal, which has yet to bid out the project, said the new complex will stretch down Glenna Goodacre Boulevard east of Avenue X.

McDougal said the company decided to move forward on the 290-unit project after the success of The Centre, which he said has been "wildly popular and 100 percent occupied" since its doors opened.

"We had a waiting list when it opened and we had to accommodate those people at some of our other properties," he said.

Chris Van Wagenen / Staff

The Centre at Overton Park, which was opened 18 months ago, will soon be joined by The Suites, a 290-unit luxury complex.

McDougal said the company is also anticipating a boost in Texas Tech enrollment in time for its 2009 opening. "That's what's driving this more than anything else," he said.

Rob Allison, assistant city manager of development services, said McDougal's project will bring more people into the area.

"My information tells me that all of those student (complexes in Overton) are either at full capacity or close to it," he said.

Allison said Overton Park has become a "conduit" connecting Texas Tech with the city's downtown area, where the city is trying to spur a revitalization.

"The development has never stopped (in Overton Park). The pace may have slowed down, but the excitement is always there," he said.

Like The Centre, McDougal said the four-story Suites property will be wrapped around an interior parking garage.

But the company said it has taken what it learned from The Centre and will improve on it.

For starters, McDougal said, The Suites will be more energy-efficient, embracing a new heating/cooling technology the company learned about during a visit to the fully remodeled El Tropicana Riverwalk in San Antonio.

Chris Van Wagenen / Staff

McDougal Cos. said it intends to duplicate its efforts in Overton Park when work begins later this year on The Suites at Overton Park. Its larger sibling, The Centre at Overton Park, has been open since the fall of 2005.

"They put in a system that's very, very efficient. In fact, the technology didn't even exist up until a few years ago," McDougal said.

He said the system will allow the landlord to provide heating and air conditioningto as many as 20 units using one heat pump the size of a refrigerator.

"It's a shared system, but what's great about it is we can still track individual use," he said.

McDougal said unlike The Centre, its Suites property will provide most units with full balconies. "That will be a very visible difference," he said.

The Suites, like The Centre, will feature a range of amenities from a large computer center and clubhouse to a huge pool and outdoor recreation area.

McDougal said apartment units will range in size from 570 square feet for a handful of efficiencies units to as large as 1,682 square feet for a three bed-room upper story loft.

He said the company intends to construct a 607-space parking garage and plans to make use of additional outdoor parking to the north side of the property, less than a block from a planned 15-story hotel and conference center.

The Suites, the hotel/conference center and a separate retail/apartment complex being developed by The Shafer Group out of Dallas are all expected to open about the same time.

"As far as openings go in Lubbock, 2009 in Overton is going to be pretty big," he said

To comment on this story:

[jscarbor]

I bought a little house while in college in Overton Park( I think its technically something else but) for $18,000 back in 1993. I sold it a couple years later for $28K owner finance. I wonder what that little place is worth now? It was pretty basic with no central air. I want to say it was 16th about 8 blocks from campus?

Lubbock has really beeen impressing me over the last 0 years. I kind of wish I was going to College now, not that I didn't love the place back then but now it is a totally different ballgame.